God's view of man: Do we have a problem?

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.  Romans 1: 21-23 (KJV)

Breaking this down into logic flow:

Precondition:  'they' knew God
If 'they' do not: (glorify God as God) and (be thankful to God)
Instead: ('they' are vain in their imaginations) and ('they' have dark hearts)
Then: 'they' (claim to be wise, but are fools) and (reduce God to the same level as they are or even lower)

How do you see God? 
Why would you 'exalt' or 'glorify' Him? 
Why would you thank Him? 
What has He done for you?

Psalm 119:9

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By keeping it according to Thy (God's) word.  (NASB)

Keeping my way pure... according to God's word.  Unless I know what God's word says, I can do this.  Neither can you.  Get into God's word.

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (NASB)

This passage is one that I do not fully comprehend yet. The book of Romans tries to explain this... we see John 3:16 display and quoted all the time, but I get a feeling that I do not really comprehend the love it took to die for me who have rejected God in my past.

God's Salvation

Some major events have happened in my life. One of these events is that I became a Christian the way God defines it in the book of Romans. This is a humbling thing for me because I come from a very religious background where this salvation was clearly taught. But in my pride and arrogance I rejected God and His salvation. I lived my life as hypocrite and a fake, convincing myself that even though I was not perfect, God was okay with me and my 'abilities' that I had to offer Him.

The reality and the truth of my life was that I did not acknowledge God or give thanks to God as Romans chapter one states. I had verbiage, but no faith. I had actions, but no love for God. The actions were for me, not for God. Yes, I wanted to please God, but for selfish reasons. I was the 'fool' as described in Proverbs, the sinner as described in Romans chapter one, and the 'religious but not real in the way of God's truth' as described in first part of Romans chapter 10. Everything that I did that was 'good' before man, was evil before God. Then there is the large amount of 'not so good' things that I did and thoughts that God calls evil. I was a very wicked person.

I could write a bunch more here about this, but the truth is already available. It is in the Bible and you can read it for yourself. If you think that you have anything good in yourself or have anything 'wonderful' to offer God, you are not seeing yourself as God sees you. You may think that the Bible is full of 'fantasy' and is subjective, a waste of time to read. I beg to differ with you and challenge you to read it with an open, honest mind and look at your life honestly.

The point of this post is to declare that God has called me to repentance and a new life in Christ. Everything is not rosy and perfect because I still have the old 'sinful' man still tempting me as described in Romans chapter seven and James chapter one. My past is a shame for me in the sight of God as described in Romans chapter six. My remaining life is for the Glory of God as described in I Peter chapter four.

If you are a true believer... Pray for me and my spiritual growth. If you are a fake, sincerely religious but not according to God's truth, or in any other spiritual state other than a true believer, consider God's salvation as the Bible states it. This is not religion, but a personal relationship with God.

PCs and Dumb Kids

How computers make kids dumb. Please take the time to read this article. It identifies several problems with PCs in the home. Even though it points to kids and PCs, some adults fall into the same traps.

As a parent, you should take steps to address these issues. Hmmmm. Maybe we need to teach our children priorties and develop disciplines in their lives. Teach them by example.

As kids... stop installing games and other nonsense on the PCs. The cyber world is not real (gasp). Go play some ball with the neighbor kids or read a book, or help your parent with making supper... cleaning the house. Go do your school work! Get a job! Why? Because your goal is to become a responsible adult, not a PC literate geek. Please take the time to read Tack Filters if you want to be a geek.

Thanksgiving Day

Hi folks. I just want to inform you of a great deal that I got... at Walmart. Yes, a Walmart store in 'small town' Wisconsin had an excellent deal on a video card. The nVidia GeForce 5200 w/128M card was on the 'all ready opened, junk' shelf. The box was missing the bonus 'crippled' games that I did not care for anyway. This card is selling for $60+ at our favorite discount websites but I got it for $30. I bought the same card at MWave for $80 in spring 2004. Installed it and it worked fine.

Now the lesson here is that I ran the risk that this card had intermittent problems or that it was totally broke. The pain of getting a warranty repair sometimes is not worth it. I took the risk and won... this time. The other issue is that even on the junk shelf, items can be over priced. As to my example, Walmart under priced this card... they should have priced it at $45. I wonder if the manager does not know the market value of some items or if they do not care? Regardless of where you purchase, know the market value of the item. An item is on the clearance rack does not make it a good deal.

I have been to Boston in the fall.

I really enjoyed visiting Boston. The weather was a bit rainy when we arrived. We stayed at a low end hotel in Lexington for the weekend until the SD East Conference started. We also stayed downtown at the high end hotel and ate a very reasonably priced Shaws Super Markets (good subs).

Driving around Boston is challenging due to the number of mature trees that cover the street signs (if they are there). Many intersections are not marked. Driving through the 'Big Dig' tunnels were cool and I can understand why they are needed in Boston.

The subway was interesting too. My first subway experience was in Washington DC. The DC subway system is massive in breadth and height and very clean. The Boston subway was small and old... but clean in comparison. Subways are fun to ride for the visitor, but I have a hunch that the commuters are not entertained by the whole experience.

The people of Boston were very friendly and helpful. I even ordered 'wada' at a restaurant without a grimace from the waiter. The cab drivers can scare you to the point of loosing it in the cab. The downtown traffic pecking order is the boldest driver wins. If I had a nice car that I treasured, I would avoid driving downtown,

We went to a lot of historical places... Lexington, Concord, Plymouth, Gloucester. There is a castle up in Gloucester that is worth the price of the tour. The warship Constitution in Boston harbor was really good too. Overall, it was a great place to vacation and I enjoyed seeing the colonial side of the USA.

Never been to Boston in the fall? You should go.